<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2>LESSON XXXVI</h2>
<h3>THE LIFE OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD</h3>
<h4>The Epistles of John</h4>
<h5>1. AUTHORSHIP OF THE FIRST EPISTLE</h5>
<p>The First Epistle of John does not contain the name of its author.
According to tradition, however, it was written by the apostle John,
and tradition is here supported by the characteristics of the epistle
itself. The author of the epistle was evidently the same as the
author of the Fourth Gospel. The marked similarity in style can
be explained in no other way. Even the careless reader observes
that the style of the Fourth Gospel is very peculiar. Short sentences
are joined to one another with the utmost simplicity; the
vocabulary is limited, but contains expressions of extraordinary
richness; the total effect is singularly powerful. These same
characteristics, though they are so peculiar, appear also in the
epistle. There is the same simplicity of sentence structure, the
same use of such terms as "life" and "light" and "love," the same
indescribable spirit and tone. Yet the epistle is no slavish imitation
of the Gospel—differences stand side by side with the similarities.
These two works are evidently related, not as model and
copy, but as living productions of the same remarkable personality.</p>
<h5>2. TESTIMONY OF AN EYEWITNESS</h5>
<p>As in the Gospel, so also in the epistle the author presents himself
clearly as an eyewitness of the life of Jesus, I John 1:1-3; 4:14;
as in the Gospel he lays stress upon simple testimony. Even those
things which have just been noticed as characteristic of his style are
connected ultimately with the teaching of Jesus. In both Gospel
and epistle, the beloved disciple has reproduced what he heard in
Galilee and in Judea, though in both he has made the memory a
living, spiritual fact.</p>
<h5>3. DESTINATION AND DATE</h5>
<p>The First Epistle of John is perhaps scarcely to be called an epistle
at all. Practically all the characteristics of a letter are missing.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</SPAN></span>
There is no address; there is no greeting at the close; there are no
personal details. The readers are indeed referred to in the second
person; but preachers as well as letter-writers say, "you." First
John is a sort of general address written probably to some extended
group of churches.</p>
<p>These churches are probably to be sought in Asia Minor.
Throughout the epistle the readers are addressed in a fatherly tone.
See, for example, ch. 2:1. Evidently the writer was well known
as a sort of patriarch throughout an extended region. Such conditions
prevailed in Asia Minor after the apostle John had begun to
reside at Ephesus. Trustworthy tradition as well as the New
Testament informs us of a period in the apostle's life when he had
outlived all or most of the other apostles and was revered as the
head of the Asian church. At some time within this period—probably
nearer the end than the beginning—the First Epistle of
John was written.</p>
<h5>4. THE FALSE TEACHERS</h5>
<p>The form of error against which the epistle is directed becomes
clearest, perhaps in ch. 4:2,3. The false teachers had denied that
Jesus Christ was come in the flesh. This may be interpreted in
several different ways.</p>
<p>(<strong>1</strong>) <strong>Docetism.</strong>—In the first place, John may mean that the
opponents simply denied the reality of the earthly life of Jesus.
Such a form of error is by no means unknown in the history of the
Church. It is called "Docetism." According to Docetism the
Son of God did not really live a human life—with human sufferings
and a human death—but only appeared to do so.</p>
<p>(<strong>2</strong>) <strong>Cerinthus.</strong>—In the second place, the meaning of the passage
may be that the opponents denied the unity of the person of Jesus
Christ. Compare ch. 2:22. Some persons in the early Church
supposed that there were two separate persons in the figure that is
described in the Gospels. A heavenly being, the Christ, it was
thought, united himself with the man Jesus at the time when the
dove descended after the baptism. Matt. 3:16,17. Such was
the view of Cerinthus, who is declared by tradition to have been an
opponent of the apostle John at Ephesus. It has been suggested,
therefore, that it was actually Cerinthus, with his disciples, who is
combated in the First Epistle of John.</p>
<p>(<strong>3</strong>) <strong>Denial of the Incarnation.</strong>—Both Cerinthus and the Docetists
denied the reality of the incarnation—both denied that the Son of<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</SPAN></span>
God actually assumed a human nature and lived a complete human
life. According to Cerinthus and others like him, the Christ stood
only in somewhat loose relation to the man Jesus. He was united
with him only late in life, he left him before the crucifixion. On
this view, it was not the Christ who lay in the manger at Bethlehem,
it was not the Christ who suffered on the cross. Cerinthus, like the
Docetists, kept the Son of God out of any close relation to the world
and to us.</p>
<p>(<strong>4</strong>) <strong>John's Reply.</strong>—Against some such view as one of these, John
was concerned to establish the reality of the incarnation—the truth
that "the Word became flesh." In the Gospel, that truth underlies
the whole of the narrative; in the First Epistle it is directly defended
against the opposing error. It is defended first of all by an
appeal to what the writer had seen and heard. "We knew Jesus
in Palestine," says John in effect, "and we can testify that Jesus
himself was none other than the Christ, the Son of God." I John,
1:1-4.</p>
<p>(<strong>5</strong>) <strong>John, the Opponents, and Cerinthus.</strong>—The false teachers who
are combated in the epistle had apparently withdrawn from the
Church and formed a separate sect. I John 2:19. Their separateness
of mind and heart and life had found expression in open schism.
Whether they are to be identified with disciples of Cerinthus is at
least doubtful. False speculation about the person of Christ no
doubt assumed many forms in the closing years of the first century.</p>
<h5>5. CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THE THIRD
EPISTLE</h5>
<p>In III John 9, the apostle tells Gaius that he had written "somewhat
unto the church." This letter to the church may have been
written at some previous time. It is also possible, however, that it
was written together with the letter to Gaius. The Greek word for
"I wrote" admits of that interpretation. If that interpretation be
correct, then John perhaps means to say that although he has written
a letter to the church he could not in that letter urge the hospitable
reception of the missionaries. For the present, the influence of
Diotrephes was too strong. The letter to the church had to be
concerned with other matters.</p>
<p>If this view of the letter mentioned in III John 9 be adopted, then
the Second Epistle of John corresponds to the description. The
Second Epistle is addressed to a church, and it is written with some
reserve. If "certain" of the children of "the elect lady" were<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</SPAN></span>
walking in truth, II John 4, the inference is that others were conducting
themselves very differently. Evidently there was danger
of false teaching among the readers. Hospitality to men like
Demetrius and his companions could hardly be expected of such a
church. If hospitality should be practiced, it was only too likely
to be hospitality to men of a very different stamp. Vs. 10, 11.</p>
<p>Possibly, therefore, the Second Epistle of John is actually the
letter that is referred to in III John 9, a letter to the church of which
Gaius was a member. This hypothesis is supported by the striking
formal similarity of the two letters. They are of almost exactly
the same length; the openings and especially the conclusions,
II John 12, 13; III John 13, 14, are couched in almost exactly the
same terms. They look very much like twin epistles, written on
two sheets of papyrus of the same size.</p>
<p>Of course the hypothesis is by no means certain. Perhaps the
letter referred to in III John 9 was a previous letter bespeaking
hospitality, which had failed of its effect. When the apostle saw,
from the answer or lack of answer to the previous letter, that the
church was ill disposed, he had recourse to an individual member of
it. Even in this case, however, it remains probable that our two
epistles were written at about the same time.</p>
<h5>6. VALUE OF THE SHORTER EPISTLES</h5>
<p>These last two epistles of John do not deserve the neglect which
they have sometimes suffered. Despite their brevity—they are
the shortest books of the New Testament—they are instructive in
a number of ways.</p>
<p>(<strong>1</strong>) <strong>Historical.</strong>—It is exceedingly interesting, for example, to
compare them with the private letters of the same period which
have recently been discovered in Egypt—see Lesson III, Teacher's
Manual, in this course. In form, the opening of the Third Epistle
is very much in the manner of the papyrus letters. Compare, for
example, with III John 1-4 the following opening of a letter of the
second century after Christ: "Apion to Epimachus his father and
lord heartiest greetings. First of all I pray that you are in health
and continually prosper and fare well with my sister and daughter
and my brother. I thank the lord Serapis...." (The translation
is that of Professor Milligan. See p. 20 of Teacher's Manual,
Part I, of this course.) The differences, however, are even
more instructive than the resemblances. What was said in Lesson
I about the epistles of Paul applies in full measure to the epistles<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</SPAN></span>
of John. Even the epistolary forms are here modified so as to
be the vehicle of a new message and a new spirit.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the two epistles, especially Third John, cast a flood
of light upon the internal development of the Church. In one
respect indeed the historical significance of the Third Epistle has
sometimes been exaggerated. It is not true that we have here the
emergence of the monarchical episcopate—that is, the preëminence
of one presbyter, called a "bishop," over his brother presbyters.
Diotrephes does not appear clearly as a bishop. At about A. D.
110 in the epistles of Ignatius the episcopate is very prominent; but
Third John belongs to an earlier period.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, this concrete picture of the internal affairs of a late
first-century church is absolutely unique. The period is very
obscure; these few brief lines illumine it more than pages of narrative.
The traveling preachers of Third John are particularly interesting.
Similar missionaries appear also in the "Didache," a
sort of church manual which may probably be dated in the early
part of the second century. In that later period, however, care
had to be taken lest the hospitality of the churches should be
abused. "But let every apostle," says the writer—the word
"apostle" is used in a very broad sense to designate wandering
preachers—"who comes to you be received as the Lord. He shall
remain, however, no more than one day, or if necessary two. If
he remains three days he is a false prophet." Such precautions, we
may be sure, were not needed in the case of Demetrius and his companions.</p>
<p>(<strong>2</strong>) <strong>Practical.</strong>—Despite its individual address and private character,
the Third Epistle of John is not an ordinary private letter.
Like all the books of the New Testament, it has a message for the
entire Church. The devout reader rises from the perusal of it with
a more steadfast devotion to the truth and a warmer glow of
Christian love.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p><span class="smcap">In the Library.</span>—Purves, "Christianity in the Apostolic Age," pp.
272-274, 294-308. Davis, "Dictionary of the Bible": Purves (supplemented),
article on "John, Epistles of." M'Clymont, "The New Testament
and Its Writers," pp. 144-149. Ellicott, "A New Testament
Commentary for English Readers," vol. iii, pp. 467-502: Sinclair,
"The Epistles of St. John." Westcott, "The Epistles of St. John."
Zahn, "Introduction to the New Testament," vol. iii, pp. 355-384.
The two last-named works are intended primarily for those who have
some knowledge of Greek, but can also be used by others.</p>
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